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Music and Lyrics
EMAILPRINTWarner Bros. Pictures

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 60 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Musical | Romance
Written by: Marc Lawrence
Directed by: Marc Lawrence
Release Date:
Theatrical: February 14, 2007
DVD: May 8, 2007
Running Time: 96 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for some sexual content
Starring Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett, Kristen Johnston, Campbell Scott, and Haley Bennett
When a washed-up eighties pop star (Grant) gets the chance to make a comeback, he teams up with an unlikely partner (Barrymore) on his road back to success.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Two Weeks Notice
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The movie is an unusually witty and intelligent romantic comedy and Hollywood's best Valentine's Day gift in years.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
This appealing romantic comedy undertakes the conventions of the formula without an inordinate amount of clichés. Music also infuses the overall plot with a satire of the music industry, and the pop tunes and lyrics are catchy.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
This movie doesn't pretend to be anything more than a cheerful night out, and on that count it scores.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The planets aligned favorably, and this "Music" is sweet without cloying the appetite. It follows the meetcute-kissyface-breakup-reunion pattern of most of its kind, but the behavior seems more genuine and the situations less forced.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Music and Lyrics is frequently appealing, often witty, and occasionally funny, but it's not going to convert skeptics and cynics into sentimentalists.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Grant and Barrymore are very enjoyable together onscreen. Who would've guessed that Barrymore would turn into such a deft comedian?
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
As a premise, this is thinner than a strand of cotton candy, but fairy tales have been hung from less, and what keeps this one together is the surprisingly easy chemistry between Grant and Barrymore.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
The two generate more heart than they do heat, but that's the point. You want to see them together not just because they're adorable, but because you believe that their characters can take each other to a place neither could get to on their own.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Lawrence's take on pop music success is exactly right, satiric without being absurdist, and therefore a prize worth the effort.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
The film's a bit like a dessert that could have been dinner, particularly with so many winning elements (including songs by Fountains Of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger and a brief appearance from a wickedly sleazy Campbell Scott). But dessert isn't a bad thing either, particularly when it's prepared with this much heart.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
It may be slight, but it's also buoyant and pleasurable, partly because the leads make the whole thing feel like a spontaneous duet. Lawrence trusts them to carry the picture, without feeling the need to throw in a lot of extraneous fluff.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
I don't think the ending is up to the rest of the movie, but Grant and Barrymore are great together, and the movie has both zing and song.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
An agreeably loopy romantic comedy that bounces along effortlessly on the genuine chemistry of leads Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Grant carries the day as the fortysomething lad still living off his youth and just about getting away with it.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Grant is game for a new level of meta-ha-ha, joke's-on-me in Music and Lyrics. But with Drew Barrymore as his costar, this bland, light romantic comedy insists on keeping the commentary as disposable as one of the '80s gumball tunes Grant used to swivel to as Alex Fletcher, a washed-up '80s pop star.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
In the end, the movie's just the kind of enjoyably empty-headed fluff it celebrates and mocks. It sits up, it begs, eventually it plays dead, and still you want to pat it on the head. It's a good dog.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Fortunately, director-writer Marc Lawrence (he also created the Hugh Grant-Sandra Bullock comedy "Two Weeks Notice") manages saccharine saturation by tempering his stars' familiar appeal with enough dry wit to make this low-key romantic comedy a not-too-sticky Valentine's Day offering.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
The plot is paper-thin, and the set-up is beyond contrived (a plant waterer?), but there are a surprising number of laughs, and the saccharine content is kept to a minimum. A mostly enjoyable experience, all told.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
While there is not much chemistry between Mr. Grant and Ms. Barrymore, they are professional enough to work with the movie's conceit while sending flickers of idiosyncratic charm off the screen.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
If writer-director Marc Lawrence had stuck with Alex's faded glory, Music and Lyrics could have been terrific. It could have been about something. Instead, he's confected a curdled valentine.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
What charm the movie has is almost entirely due to Grant and Barrymore -- the master of smarmily irresistible self-deprecation meets the sweetly vulnerable queen of awkward self-sabotage. While they have no romantic chemistry, they're certainly appealing.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Toddy Burton
The result is either a brilliant bit of idol worship satire or a sign of the apocalypse. Despite the sad fact that audiences will surely settle for this watered down, kind of funny attempt at the genre, I couldn't help but enjoy the ride a little.
Read Full Review >Premiere Scott Warren
The music is catchy. The actors are likeable. It's all pleasant enough to watch but ultimately it's about as substantial as a pop song. Though it's unlikely to stay with you quite so long.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Robert Wilonsky
Music and Lyrics suggests that it's going to be about redemption, the second act in the life of a punchline, but it feels as though it were made to fit a date on a studio's release schedule. (Happy Valentine's Day!) Oh, well, at least the songs are catchy, and the two-tone video for "Pop Goes My Heart" is inspired.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Grant hasn't had any real chemistry with a female co-star since Julia Roberts in "Notting Hill," but Barrymore works so hard at it and is so charming that you might be fooled.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Drew Barrymore is that rare movie starlet who can handle the comedy end of romantic comedy, but she coasts through her underwritten role as a goofy plant sitter recruited by Grant to write his lyrics.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Remember "The Flight of the Phoenix," the movie about the misshapen plane, built from scavenged parts, that flies its builders to safety? Music and Lyrics is like that plane, up to a point. The plot is misshapen, the pieces are scavenged and nothing quite fits. The film does manage to take off, albeit barely, then flits around cheerfully in search of coherence, but finally crashes and fizzles.
Empire Anna Smith
Music And Lyrics never really finds its tone. Fans of Barrymore and Grant are likely to enjoy their pleasing ramblings, and the modern-day, down-to-earth courtship is handled well. But this is unlikely to go down as either actor’s finest hour.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Among its other sins, the disposable romantic comedy Music and Lyrics fluffs a golden opportunity to make hay with Grant's dark side.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 60 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Bill V. gave it a5:
Methodical delivery slowed this movie down and left at least one sub-plot unexplored. Bu ok if you like seeing Barrymore and Grant together.
Norm D. gave it a7:
Very cute. Ignore the many jokes that fall a bit flat, the cheap sets and Drew's neurotic Jew shtick and you're left with a sweet romance, Hugh Grant effortlessly carrying a film and most importantly the behind the music stuff. Very similar to That Thing You Do (obviously, since songs by Adam S.)---the music affectionately and effectively parodies different cheesy elements of pop...while at the same time infecting us with a love for the sounds.
peter b. gave it a5:
Hugh Grant on autopilot. Flimsy and not very satisfying but sometimes funny. Fountains of Wayne involvement is the main highlight.
Nick T. gave it a6:
I think this is ok for what it is and Hugh Grant looks relaxed and is on form carrying this movie all the way through. Drew Barrimore seems more restrained than I've seen her in other movies but still if you want a rom com these 2 make it. I've even had that song in my head after watching it.
[Anonymous] gave it an8:
A surprising comedy with its own nifty elements that help it become a winner.
Redlight gave it a5:
This was alright. enjoyable romp although there's not a lot of laughs here and theres zero chemistry between Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. Maybe its because, in my opinion, they're dull-as-hell actors. anyway, it was a fair way to while away 90 minutes.
PnArdy PnArdy gave it a9:
Loved it. Great comedy romance musical with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore.
